Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, in what (a) month and (b) year his Department planned to deliver the East Coast Main Line timetable change when funding was announced in July 2018 for the East Coast Upgrade engineering works.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
In July 2018 the ECML timetable change related to the ECML Upgrade was to be delivered in December 2020.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of his Department’s planned size for the East Coast Main Line Long Distance High Speed rail fleet operating to and from (a) London King’s Cross, (b) Leeds and (c) Edinburgh in each of the five years from 2023.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Each train operator contracted by the Department for Transport is required to submit an Annual Business Plan. Draft fleet plans for the period from 2023 to 2028 have just been received from train operators and are being reviewed. The information in these plans is commercially confidential.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent estimate he has made of the (a) cost to the public purse of and (b) projected revenue from long-distance high speed rail services on the East Coast Main Line to and from (i) London King’s Cross, (ii) Leeds and (iii) Edinburgh in each year between 2023 and 2028.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Draft forecasts for the period from 2023 to 2028 have just been received from train operators and are being reviewed. The information on costs and revenues is commercially confidential.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his Department’s intended date is for the introduction of the new East Coast Main Line timetable; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The feedback received through the East Coast Main Line timetable consultation in 2021 has now been reviewed and work is continuing to develop a revised timetable for implementation, one that more closely aligns with stakeholder views, ensures passengers experience the benefits of the £1.2 billion invested in the East Coast upgrade and is appropriate to meet passenger demand.
In order to address the concerns raised during the consultation, the major timetable change is now targeted for 2023.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate his Department has made of the forecasted return on investment for the (a) East Coast Upgrade and (b) East Coast Main Line fleet upgrades in each of the next five years.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Draft forecasts for the period from 2023 to 2028 have just been received from train operators and are being reviewed. The information on costs and revenues is commercially confidential.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking with Network Rail to reduce instances of overhead line issues on the East Coast Mainline.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
We recognise that overhead line issues on the East Coast Main Line have a huge impact on passengers and freight operators. Network Rail has put in place a programme of work to replace overhead line components that have historically caused a high number of failures and are working with train operators to ensure their trains interact as sympathetically as possible with the infrastructure. Network Rail is also designing a series of specific upgrades for tunnels, where overhead line failures can be extremely disruptive, so that the infrastructure is as resilient as it possibly can be. Finally, Network Rail is working to improve the speed of its response when incidents do happen, making sure its teams get trains moving again as quickly as possible.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the expected annual expenditure will be on the Major Projects Portfolio projects for the (i) Rapid Charging Fund, (ii) Midlands Rail Hub, (iii) East Coast Mainline Programme, (iv) East Coast Digital Programme, (v) A417 Air Balloon, (vi) Lower Thames Crossing, (vii) HS2 Phase 2b Western Leg, (viii) A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down, (ix) Further Electrification of Midland Main Line (MML3), (x) East West Rail Configuration State 1, (xi) A428 Black Cat to Caxton Gibbet, (xii) HS2 Phase 2a, (xiii) A12 Chelmsford to A120 Widening, (xiv) Transpennine Route Upgrade, (xv) A66 Northern Trans-Pennine, (xvi) HS2 Phase 1, (xvii) Rail Passenger Services, (xviii) Crossrail Programme, (xix) East West Rail Connection Stage 2 and 3, (xx) Midland Main Line Programme, (xxi) 2nd Generation UK Search and Rescue Aviation and (xxii) Rail Transformation Programme; and if he will place that information in the House of Commons Library.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The annual expenditures of these 22 major projects for 2021-22 were published on 20 July 2022 with the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) Annual Report 2021-2022. This data can be found in the accompanying ‘GMPP Government Major Projects Portfolio AR Data March 2022’ document as ‘Financial Year Forecast (£m) (including Non-Government Costs)'. It is not currently possible to provide the expected annual expenditures for 2022-23 but these will be published at the appropriate time.
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when the proposed timetable for changes to the East Coast Main Line service will be finalised.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The public consultation on the proposed major timetable change on the East Coast Main Line, which proposed significant improvements to LNER services, received over 9000 responses and invaluable feedback and insight from local communities. In order to address thoroughly all the concerns raised, the major timetable upgrade is now targeted for 2023 at the earliest. The feedback received through the consultation has now been reviewed and work is continuing towards a plan for the implementation of revised proposals for a new, reliable timetable on the East Coast Main Line; one that more closely aligns with stakeholder feedback, ensures passengers experience the benefits of the £1.2billion invested in the East Coast upgrade and is appropriate for the rail industry’s financial position following the spending review. The Department will be able to share the outcome of that work once it completes later this year.
Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 8 July (HL1360), what assessment they have made of additional capacity that will be produced by the East Coast Digital Programme.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The introduction of digital signalling, as part of the East Coast Digital Programme, will increase rail system capability. This can either be used to increase performance or capacity. The priority for the East Coast Digital Programme, and therefore the central economic analysis in the Full Business Case, has assumed that the benefits offered by this increased system capability are captured as performance improvements, including reduction in passenger delays by improving the reliability of infrastructure and improved punctuality of trains which delivers additional revenue from an increase in passenger numbers.
Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 8 July (HL1360), who are the industry partners who have provided cost estimates for funding the East Coast Digital Programme; what is the 3 Lines of Defence approach to scrutinising cost estimates; and who is responsible for the independent analysis within the 3 Lines of Defence approach.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The success of the East Coast Digital Programme is dependent on collaborative business change across a number of organisations, known as industry partners. Alongside my Department and Network Rail, these include passenger and freight train operators and suppliers.
The 3 Lines of Defence approach is the formal Network Rail Cost Estimate Assurance process. The 1st line is led by business operations which perform the day to day activity. At this stage proposed costs are assessed to ensure they capture all relevant scope and risk as well as being sufficiently evidenced. The 2nd line is provided by other functions in the business to provide a strategic overview of costs and to ensure work has been undertaken diligently. The 3rd line is independent assurance, which for the East Coast Digital Programme Full Business Case was provided by Turner and Townsend. In addition to this assurance, the Department’s Centre of Excellence and the Infrastructure Projects Authority have both independently reviewed the Programme, prior to approval of the Full Business Case.